The UK's biggest local authority is to consider selling off land and property to help pay a £1bn bill to settle thousands of equal pay cases.

Birmingham city council accepted that its review would include one of its landmark buildings – the NEC – but said there were no imminent plans to sell off the venue.

The Labour-led city council has agreed settlements with female staff including home care workers and school cooks who were paid less than men for work of equal value.

Some men have also been included in the payouts and claims are still being submitted.

The council has borrowed money to help fund the settlements but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will not allow it to take on any more loans.

A Birmingham city council spokesman said: "Like all councils we continually review our asset portfolio to ensure we are providing best value for the taxpayer. The properties that make up the NEC group are within that overall portfolio.

"The council has disposed of assets to the value of £76m over the past two years largely consisting of surplus land and office accommodation plus right to buy sales of council housing.

The forward programme is likely to include: further identification of surplus land and property; a review of our commercial and retail holdings; and a review of income-generating assets such as car parks and commercial leases.

The spokesman added: "These reviews should be seen in the context of the wider budget challenges faced by local authorities including the financing of equal pay liabilities."

Chris Benson, from law firm Leigh Day, which represents more than 5,000 women who are taking equal pay claims against local authorities, including Birmingham city council, said: "There are a number of ways in which Birmingham could have avoided owing these huge sums of money. They could have settled with the workers they underpaid instead of paying London lawyers to defend the indefensible for two years. They could, of course, have paid the women fairly at the time, as other councils did.

"Instead, they are now left with so much to pay as they owe these women many years of wages, with interest on top. If they had only paid their female workers the same as the men, this would never have happened."